


Paradise Lost

by suzyturquoiseblue03



Series: Of Bats and Robins [2]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, Nightwing (Comics), Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics), Red Robin (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Time-Line, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Future Fic, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Pre-New 52, mostly - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-01
Updated: 2019-05-08
Packaged: 2019-10-02 10:49:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,234
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17262884
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/suzyturquoiseblue03/pseuds/suzyturquoiseblue03
Summary: When Tim makes an evening pharmacy run to pick up meds for his and Jason's children things don't run to plan.





	1. The Interview Part 1

“Are you my lawyer?” 

Jason sat down across from the terrified boy. “No. The Wayne Foundation has sent someone to represent you, but I wanted to speak to you first.”

“The W-Wayne Foundation?” The boy stammered. “Why?”

“Because that’s what we do.” The legal branch that the Wayne Foundation had created to help supplement Gotham’s public defender’s office was a point of pride with both Jason and Tim. 

“We?”

Jason took his wallet from the inner pocket of his jacket. Tim teased him for carrying printed pictures when he could just show people his phone, but he still made sure to print out updated shots for Jason regularly. Jason slipped two of the prints from his wallet and laid them on the table before the boy. 

“We.” He replied. He tapped the first picture. It was his favorite of the photos that had been taken on his wedding day. A candid moment the photographer had caught of him and with Tim their arms around one another's waists as they whispered to each other. Jason no longer remembered what they had been saying as their family had been bustling into positions around them; he only recalled the feeling that the world, for at least one day, was perfect. 

“I’m Jason Drake-Wayne. This,” he indicated Tim in the picture, “is my husband Timothy Drake-Wayne.”

Tears began to slide down the boy’s cheeks. Jason ignored them and pushed the second picture forward. Bruce had taken it at their last family movie night. He and Tim were curled up together on the loveseat in the den, Cade tucked between them and Mina sprawled asleep on their laps. 

“These are our children, Mina and Cade.” 

The boy began to sob.

“He’s four and a half, she’s sixteen months old. They both have bronchitis. That’s why Tim was at that pharmacy when you robbed it. He was picking up medicine for them.”

Jason paused, took a breath to compose himself and then continued. “For the last two days, they’ve been sick and scared. Scared because he’s never left them before. Mina’s never been away from him for more than a few hours. She’s barely stopped crying. They want their Daddy back.”

The boy continued sobbing, resting his head against the cold metal table. Garbled between gasps for breath Jason heard the words, “I’m sorry, oh god, I’m so sorry.” 

“Sit up and look at me,” Jason waited until the boy complied before he continued. “No matter what you say to me in the next few minutes the Wayne Foundation is providing you with a lawyer and we’re arranging for your mother to be moved into a facility where she can get the medicine and care she needs. Nothing will change that, because that’s what the Wayne Foundation does - we help those who need it. Do you understand that I’m not threatening you? That no one is going to hurt you or your mother?” ‘

The boy nodded in bemusement. 

“The cops are going to want you to tell them about your accomplice in the robbery. They’re going to want all kinds of information in exchange for a deal. I don’t give a rats ass whether you give it to them. 

However, I know my husband and I know that if he could have come home he would have. He’s either being held somewhere, which given the lack of ransom demand I doubt, or you and your friend killed him. 

I’m asking you to tell me where he is. Even if all I can give my children is a grave to visit, I want my husband back.”


	2. Interview Part 2

The boy's whole body sagged. "He was just trying to help me, you know?" 

Jason nodded. He knew. He knew Tim.

"I didn't even want to rob the place. It was Joey's idea. He sells for Mike Hobbs, and Joey delved in the product, you know?" 

Jason bit back an urge to tell the boy he really didn't care about the whos, wheres, or whys, to just get to the damned point already. Instead, he breathed slowly and deeply through his nose so he wouldn't spook the kid as he babbled. 

"Like, a lot. He wanted to impress some guys and supplied their party. So he thought he could make up for it by knocking over the pharmacy. I wasn't going to help him, but then he said that they'd have the medicine my mom needs. She lost her insurance since she can't work, so we can't afford it," the kid laughed bitterly, "but they didn't have it, or even half the drugs Joey wanted. He couldn't even get the haul from the registers because they'd already sent the day's cash to the bank. Joey was flipping his shit, waving his piece around. I thought he was going to kill someone, but then Then Mr. Wayne stood up. Said he was a Wayne, that he could Joey money, and my mom her medicine. I thought we were just going to go to take him to his company like he said, but Joey decided bringing a Wayne to Hobbs was better than showing up with money or drugs. "

Jason couldn't hold back any longer, "is that where he is? Does Hobbs have Tim?" 

The boy began to cry again. "I don't know.”

Jason took a long controlled breath. "What do you mean, you don't know?"

"Wh-when we g-got to Hobbs' Joey went into his office to talk to him, and I stayed in the hall with, with Mr. Wayne. We could hear Hobbs shouting at Joey, saying that he was a motherfucking idiot, that everyone knows that the Wayne's are in with the Bats and he didn't need that shit. Then he said, but now I'll have to clean it up. 

Mr. Wayne grabbed my arm and told me to run. I don't know how he got out of the ropes Joey'd tied him up in - they must have been loose or something. Then -" the boy stopped choking on a sudden sob, "s-sorry. Joey was an asshole, but he was my best friend, you know?"

"Yes." Jason did know. The information Oracle had turned up on the boys showed that they had been friends since they could walk, their families renting two sides of the same duplex. 

"Hobbs shot him. Mr. Wayne was pulling me down the hall already when we heard it. I stopped, tried to go back. We might have made it out if I hadn't. M-Mr. Wayne," he stuttered around another bout of tears, "h-he swung me around in front of him and pushed me forward. Hobbs came out in the hall and shot at us twice. He hit Mr. Wayne both times. I tried to stop and get him up, but Hobbs just kept shooting an - and," the boy folded over sobbing, "I - I j-just ran a-aw-way. I'm so sorry. Oh, my god, I'm so sorry."

Jason stood, walked around the table and rested a hand on the boy's shoulder until he had cried himself out. Then he tucked his photos back in his wallet and headed for the door. 

"Mr. Wayne?" 

The boy's quavering voice stopped him with his hand on the doorknob.  
He turned back, "yes, son?" 

"I'm really sorry Mr. Wayne, for all of it." 

Jason sighed. "Me too, son. Do what your lawyer says. He'll take good care of you." 

Lieutenant Nick Gage, Commissioner Jim Gordon, Bruce Wayne, and the boy's lawyer were waiting for him in the hall. Bruce wrapped a protective arm around Jason's shoulder as the lawyer slipped by him into the interrogation room. Jason relayed what little he had learned to the remaining men. 

"Get a warrant and search Hobb's shop," Gordon ordered Gage as soon as Jason had finished. Gage nodded and took off down the hall, clapping a hand on Jason's shoulder as he went. 

Gordon led Jason and Bruce to the precinct garage. "Hobbs has been picked up for the occasional misdemeanor, but we've never been able to make anything major stick. He keeps under the radar. I knew he ran a chop shop, but the drug angle is new." 

He opened the back door to the unmarked car that had brought them in from Wayne Manor. "I'll do everything in my power to bring Tim back for you and see that Hobbs goes down for this."

Jason couldn't bring himself to answer, suddenly to drained by the events of the past hour. Bruce pale and pinched helped him into the car before shaking Gordon's hand. "Thanks, Jim. I always know we can count on you." Then he joined Jason in the backseat, wrapping his arm back around Jason's shoulder's so his son could rest against him as the detective drove them home.


	3. Chapter 3

Until he had started attending Gotham Academy's half-day program shortly after turning four Cade's only regular exposure to children his own age was his cousin, Ryan. As the two had grown, it had become routine for Ryan to be seen literally dragging Cade in her wake. This would continue until either Cade's parents stepped in, an action that always caused tension between them and Steph, or until Cade would take refuge in the safest place in the Manor - Grandpa Bruce's lap. 

So, as sympathetic as Tim and Jason were to Steph and Nick's struggle to teach Ryan to be considerate without crushing her natural assertiveness, they were relieved that Ryan had graduated to the full-day program before Cade was enrolled. And they had been thrilled when Cade befriended a little boy named Josh, who was as quiet and sweet as their boy. That was why when Josh's mom, Marianna, called and told them that all Josh wanted for his birthday party was for Cade to come for a playdate they had accepted the invitation even though Cade and Mina were recovering from a bad bought of the flu. 

It had been a pleasant afternoon. Jason and Tim had left Mina with Bruce and Selina, so they were able to sit back and relax with Marianna while the boys played with the lego set Cade had picked as Josh's birthday present. They had enjoyed the chance to get to know the woman beyond the facts in the background check they had run on the parents of all of Cade's classmates, and it hadn't been until the next morning when Jason had been awoken by a call from Marianna that they regretted the decision. She told him that she'd had to take Josh to the emergency room in the middle of the night because he had developed a high fever and was having trouble breathing. The diagnosis was bronchitis. She'd apologized profusely, saying she'd have canceled if she'd had any idea. Jason had assured her it wasn't her fault, he knew that with kids they were climbing the walls one minute and sicker than fuck the next, and to let them know how Josh was doing. Then he and Tim had held their breaths. 

Luck wasn't with them. Four days later Cade had awoken in the early morning hours feverish and wheezing. Mina followed suit in a few hours. 

Damian had come by to examine the kids and confirm their suspicions - it was bronchitis. After, he had run to the pharmacy to pick up the antibiotics he'd prescribed. Damian had wanted to cancel his trip to Smallville, but Jason and Tim had firmly ushered him to the door assuring him they had everything under control. Damian had finally allowed himself to be led to his car with a promise that they would call if anything changed. 

Things had actually proceeded as smoothly as life with two sick kids could until Tim had been preparing the kids night time medicine, and run out of cough syrup while pouring the first dose. He had run upstairs to grab the backup bottle, then reappeared emptyhanded.

"So. That was the backup bottle." 

Jason would forever be grateful that he hadn't let his first thought fall out of his mouth. That would have been, "Are you fucking me? How could you forget to replace the backup bottle?" 

Which would have led to Tim pointing out that just maybe Jay could have done the goddamn grocery shopping for once, and then Jason would've pointed out he'd been cleaning the piles of paperwork off of both of their desks after they'd been gone taking care of the kids last time and then . . . 

Instead, Jason had managed to clock the self-recrimination and exhaustion on Tim's face before speaking. "Babe, shit's been insane. You want me to make the run?" 

Tim had shaken his head indicating Cade who was asleep on Jason's chest. Then he had run his hand through Jason's hair and kissed him. "We're going to get through this," he'd murmured. 

"Just seventeen more years."

"Bruce might point out that Dick, Babs, and their kids live in the carriage house and we have a tunnel connecting our house to the Manor." Tim had teased as he slipped into his jacket. 

"Fuck that. We're better parents. The Old Man says it himself all the time." 

Tim's soft laughter as he had eased out the door had been the last thing Jason had heard from his husband. 

Now Jason stood in the door to the room he and Tim shared with their kids when they stayed at Wayne Manor. Cade and Mina were tucked into their beds, IV drips dangling from the headboards. Damian had inserted the T-lines shortly after returning from Gotham in an attempt to prevent dehydration. But it had taken the better part of thirty-six hours for him to convince Jason to allow him to add a mild sedative to the drips. Although he logically knew that his children's inconsolable sobbing, driven by both their illness and their distress over Tim's continued absence, was only worsening their condition, the decision still felt like a failure of parenting to Jason. The first, he was sure, of many to come. 

Damian was passed out on the window seat with Jon Kent. Jon opened his eyes as Jason entered the room. "They've been sleeping soundly," he assured Jason, even though they both knew that Jason had worn a comm connected to the baby monitors on his trip to the precinct. 

"Good. I see you finally got the Doc to get some rest."

Jon brushed a strand of Damian's hair off his forehead, "yeah. He swore he was just going to sit down for a minute, but everything finally caught up with him." 

Jon's eyes flickered to Jason and then back down to Damian. "I haven't told him. I didn't want to wake him." 

Jason settled in the rocking chair between Cade and Mina's beds. "Good. You're good for him, Jon. I'm glad you're working things out." 

Jon's lips tipped upward as he gazed down at the man in his arms, "he asked me to move in with him. I said yes." 

Jason grinned, genuinely grinned. Damian and Jon had fallen hard for each other as teens. But when Damian had decided to hang up his cape and figure out who he was outside of the legacies he had been born into they had fallen apart. In recent months, though, they had reunited. And Jason was thrilled because while leaving the costumed life behind had allowed Damian to find peace, Jon made him happy. 

"Jay," Jon whispered, "Jay, I'm so -" 

The grin fell from Jason's face. "Don't." He implored the younger man. "Please, don't." 

Jon nodded and tightened his hold on Damian. 

"Do you want me to tell you what's happening in the Cave?" The question was tentative, and Jason could tell from the way Jon wasn't quite looking at him that Jon had overheard his conversation with Bruce in the foyer. 

_"Please, B, get rid of them. Don't let me fuck this up."_

_"Whatever you need, son."_

"Has the Flash done his thing?" Jason had heard Bruce calling the man as he walked towards the Cave entrance. The whole superhero community was on alert waiting for the Wayne family to tell them there was something they could help with, so Jason knew he would come. 

Jon nodded. "The training guns are gone. Your stashes too." 

"That's the only thing I need to know." Jason leaned back in the rocking chair. "This is where I need to be. This is where Tim would want me to be." Jason closed his eyes and pushed away the tide of emotion threatening to sweep over him. "Our kids need me." 

There was no answer from Jon, perhaps he understood that Jason had ceased to address him. Soon the only sound in the room was the children's labored breathing and the creak of Jason's rocking chair. Soon Jon closed his eyes, but Jason knew the man wasn't asleep because his arms were still tense around Damian. 

Jason tried to sleep, but every time he began to let his mind drift thoughts of Tim filled his thoughts. And as much as he wanted to allow himself fall into that well of memories, he couldn't, any more than he could go down to the Cave and join in the hunt for Hobbes. To give into the emotions trying to overtake him would be a betrayal to Tim and the life they had worked so hard to build together. 

So he tried to concentrate on his children. Even that led to Tim though. Aside from the memories, there was the looming task of trying to explain death to small children. Cade could at least carry on a conversation; it would take time for him to truly understand that Tim would never return, but Jason would be able to discuss it with him as frequently as he needed to. 

Mina, however, would not understand and Jason did not think there were words small enough to explain it to a sixteen-month-old. No, for Mina her beloved Day, as Cade had named Tim in his infancy, had simply disappeared never to return. How long would it take before he faded from her memory completely? How much longer until he faded from Cade's? Would their Day eventually be no more than a stranger in a picture who their Dad and family missed desperately?

Then there was Damian sleeping peacefully in Jon's arms. Jason wouldn't leave it to Jon to tell Damian what had happened. While Damian and Tim's relationship had been adversarial in the beginning when Jason had returned to the family, they had been working towards being brothers and friends. It had been Tim that Damian had turned to when the Robin mantle had been given to Terry, and Damian had even lived with them for a time during his teen years. The news of Tim's death would be crushing to Damian. 

Jason stood and began pacing the room. Jon glanced over at him but refrained from speaking. When Jason slid down the wall and began to meditate Jon returned to his feigned sleep. Jason wasn't sure how long he had been struggling with the calming exercises he had mastered at the Sanctuary, minutes or hours, when Jon sat up abruptly. 

Damian, jarred by the movement, snapped awake. "What is it?"

Jon didn't respond. He was clearly listening to something beyond Damian and Jason's hearing, something, Jason realized, in the Cave. He turned to Jason his eyes wide. "They've found Tim." Jon's face broke into a beaming smile. "He's alive."


End file.
